It is my pleasure today to recognize in the visitor’s gallery the mayor for Hay River, his Worship Marc Miltenberger.
I would like to recognize my C.A., Joe Bailey, and his brother Greg Hopf.
I would like to recognize Shad Turner. He gave us a beautiful rendition of our national anthem. Also, Mr. Paul Andrews, another Weledeh resident. Welcome to the House.
I, too, would like to recognize Shad Turner, who sang O Canada for us. Shad has been an employee with the Department of Human Resources for approximately two years. He is the client service manager responsible for Public Works and Services; Education, Culture and Employment; and Human Resources.
Shad is also an active contributor to the Yellowknife music scene. He is the director of the Yellowknife Choral Society. As well, he sings regularly with Classics on Stage Yellowknife.
I as well would like to recognize J.M. Miltenberger, the younger — my brother Jean-Marc Miltenberger, a successful businessman and mayor of Hay River.
I would like to recognize a member of the Tulita people, Mr. Paul Andrew, the main man to hang focus on.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Welcome to everybody in the gallery today. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings.
Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I talked about culture and education. I would like to ask the Minister of Education how many dollars are going into my region, the Sahtu region, into the educational system in terms of teaching and providing cultural opportunities for our children.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We do provide various program dollars to the community to promote and enhance our language and our culture, our special way of life, in all regions and in all the schools that we provide funding to. We do get certain funding from the federal government as well. And there is a $1.9 million pot of funding we provide towards that program.
I could provide that detailed information to the Member as to the Sahtu region — specific details of what kind of program dollars they are getting in the riding. Mahsi.
I look forward to the information the Minister is going to provide to me and possibly the other Members of the House in terms of the funding that is being provided to the communities and our region.
I’ll ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment: in terms of the authority over cultural programs being implemented into our communities, would the Minister commit to sitting down and talking to the education board to look at how to increase cultural programs into the Sahtu community in order to have a balance of academic and cultural teaching?
Certainly there are always ways of improving certain programs or enhancing certain programs. I’m looking forward to the discussion that will take place within the region of Sahtu and to working with the local DEA and also the regional educational council representatives. They are the ones we contribute the program dollars to, to deliver the school programs.
I will be more than happy to meet with the Member and also his representatives to deal with this particular item. If there needs to be improvement, it will be Northwest Territories–wide, so we can certainly talk further on that. Mahsi.
Again, I certainly appreciate the Minister making efforts to come into Sahtu and meet with the people there, with the appropriate boards and authorities.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister if he would consider something like they do in Russia with their education programs. In the mornings they have a culture program, just for the morning. They have dancing; they have languages. In the afternoon they provide the academic structure. I would ask the Minister if that type of consideration could be given to the majority of the people in my region, who are average people who should be looking at how we involve the teachers, parents and the elders in teaching that type of culture.
That can be one of our topics of discussion when we are meeting with the various parties within the Sahtu region. We do have an integrated cultural and language curriculum in the schools as well. We can talk further on that.
I will bring my department in to discuss what we currently deliver in the schools in the 33 communities we serve. The programs are outlined in all the communities, so we will discuss further where we need to improve in certain areas. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our educational boards are doing very well with the limited dollars we have. We are following a national accreditation in terms of what we need to do to pass our students to the next grade.
I feel that within our own schools we are excluding certain professors in our schools, such as the elders. The elders have a wealth of knowledge, yet when we try to get them in there, they’re challenged because of the income. They get dinged by social security, by the federal government. They want to come in, but if they do come in, their pension cheque is going to go down, so it hinders them.
I want to ask the Minister: would he be able to take his leadership within his department, work with the other Cabinet Ministers? We’ve got to have these professors, these elders, in our schools. We have got to teach our younger children, because they are missing that part of their education. We don’t have them. We have people coming from outside who don’t have that knowledge of our community and our language and our culture. We’ve got to have the elders in our schools. If we don’t, Mr. Speaker, that’s a crying shame today.
I certainly agree with the Member as to the value and the wisdom that elders bring to the school system and also to the community. We must cherish that and also work with that. We as a department have been dealing with this particular issue, because it’s not only in the Sahtu region but Northwest Territories–wide that schools would like to fully utilize elders’ services.
They are penalized from their pension as well when they get honorarium cheques or casual paycheques. We are dealing with that issue right now. We are talking about options in different scenarios as to how we can deliver an effective program where they don’t get penalized. We will continue to work with that, Mr. Speaker. I will continue to work with the Member and also the members of the standing committee to improve in this area.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Finance, and I would like to thank him again for the opportunity to tell him what he should be doing.
I’d like to ask a question of the Minister relative to the changes to this year’s plan and the opportunity or the possibility of an evaluation. I’d like to know if the Minister can advise the House, and me in particular, of any plans he has to evaluate this new budget process.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, as well, always appreciate an opportunity when the Member has to tell me what to do. I appreciate her advice.
In this case we are very much on the same page. We’ve already had discussions with staff that we want to do a debrief about how the process works. We’d like to come and sit down with committee, as well, to get feedback so that we can, as we look to the cycle next year, address a lot of the issues that may come up. A lot of them may be issues related to process or content.
We are very much interested in trying to learn from this first run through, now that it’s been field tested. I believe there are opportunities for improvement.
I thank the Minister for his comments. It’s always wonderful when both sides of the House are on the same page.
I mentioned in my statement that Members on this side of the House have indicated a concern with equal sharing of dollars and so on. There has also been expressed over the last several months a need for Members to have input into the Capital Plan, a need for Members to get a project on the list. I’d like to ask the Minister what he intends to do to enable Members to get a project on the list. We need a new process, because the current one isn’t working.
Mr. Speaker, firstly, I would differ somewhat from the Member’s characterization that the system is not working. It’s working, and I think that for the most part it works well. In some cases it may not be working as well as we would like, but I think overall…. We’ve been evolving this process for many, many decades now.
We have come up with what we think are the latest improvements, where we will commit to providing a ten year retrospective for Members. We’ll look at the 20-year plan going forward. We’re going to get feedback, we hope, from committee in terms of the process and steps that are currently there. We already have a significant number of steps and processes that have been put in place to ensure, to the best of our ability, fairness and equity. It’s still an issue that has not been satisfactorily addressed. Collectively, I believe that we can go forward to make improvements to this system that is working but that we want to make work better.
The Minister mentioned a number of actions that are currently in place to try and determine an equitable distribution of dollars and projects. Again, I say there is certainly a perception that that is not operating as efficiently as it should, or certainly it’s not to the satisfaction of Members on this side of the House.
I guess I would like to know from the Minister what actions or what things are currently in place. What do they currently do when they are looking at projects? What do they do to try and ensure that it’s a fair distribution?
We work with a committee of deputies. We work with the Cabinet. We work with committees to review the plans. We’re committed to reviewing and updating the 20 year plan. We started a new process this year. We have an infrastructure committee that’s at work on improvements to the capital planning process.
This new staging of the process in the fall, for example, is one of those significant improvements that we brought forward collectively. We’re going to look to what other advice the infrastructure committee brings forward and, as well, whatever input the committee and Regular Members would provide from Priorities and Planning.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister. I guess I would like to suggest that perhaps his perception of how fair things are is not the same as what’s over here and not the same as my own. If there is a per capita cost to the projects within individual communities, it certainly isn’t even. I would like to suggest that there needs to be a better opportunity for Members to feel that the distribution is even.
I’d like to ask the Minister, as a last question.... I understand that individual years certainly can vary from one year to the next or that amounts can vary per community from one year to the next, but does the department ever consider a five year average, for instance, on a per capita basis for projects?
We provided the Members information over a four year period both by constituency and by community to give Members a sense of the money that was spent. We managed to get the housing dollars as well as the money contributed by MACA, which makes for a significant amount of money that we are spreading across the North.
We want to be very careful as we look at per capita. It’s one of the issues we always take exception to when we deal with the federal government when they want to allocate the money that they have on a per capita basis, because invariably, because of the small size of our population, we get a very small amount of money. We have been arguing for years for a base plus approach to funding arrangements. It’s the same approach that MACA used or is using when they allocate money to the communities. They’ve agreed to a formula where there is a base, I believe, of about $600,000, then plus, based on the size of your population, which recognizes that there are larger communities.
So there are ways for us to look at how capital is allocated. But I can tell you from my own experience, per capita, for us, is going to be a process that’s not going to be fair. We know right off the top that Yellowknife and all the large communities would get by far the vast amount of capital.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of ITI. Considering the bleak forecast of the economy here at home and all over the world, considering that even during the good times many of the communities did not benefit economically, what’s government going to do in the short term — within the next three months is Christmas season — to keep the economy healthy?
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Northwest Territories has been in the enviable position where it’s been sheltered more than other jurisdictions from the volatility of the national and world economies, especially since our gross domestic product has been consistently strong over the past ten years.
But as a government we’ve introduced some new initiatives. Most recently we’re just in the process of rolling out the SEED Policy, the Strategic Entrepreneurial and Economic Development Program which is geared to levels 2 and 3 communities. We are investing $2.5 million that’s now available under this new policy. The approach we’re taking as a government is to focus on developing an economy in every community. We’re working very hard on that, and we think we’ve been successful in the Nunakput region.
It’s Nun-ak-put, for the Minister, with a “T.”
Will the government find innovative and cooperative solutions to allow small businesses in our small communities to truly benefit from government contracts and spending?
In keeping with our approach of developing the economy in every community, we’re looking at trying to do that in all of the 33 communities of the Northwest Territories. In the Nunakput riding there are four communities, so we think we’re well underway, as Tuk has oil and gas. In Sachs Harbour we’re working on developing the muskox harvesting program. For Ulukhaktok we have a subsidiary developed, a Holman Island subsidiary, to start up the art and print making, and Paulatuk has the Darnley Bay resources. So we’re working very hard in that area, and we’re working with the members of the community.
Will the government work with the regional centres, such as Nunakput businesses, and federal and local governments, to review and implement measures to the truly strategic coordination of streamlining with our great territory’s economic development?
We’re prepared to work with all of the agencies and governments involved in economic development in the region. We’re currently negotiating an MOU on contracting with the Inuvialuit regional council. We are always working for better coordination and streamlining.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
None at this time. I heard all that good news.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my Member’s statement today I talked about the issue of performance audits. What I really wanted to try to characterize is the fact that performance audits are actually like a barometer test. They tell you how healthy an organization is by looking at how the organization deals with its policies and are we getting value for money.
So, Mr. Speaker, my question goes to the newly minted Finance Minister. I’m curious if he understands the importance of the issue I’m raising, and would he be willing to implement a Crown corporation accountability act along with the updating of the GNWT’s FAA, the Financial Administration Act.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t feel that I’m newly minted. I’ve been the Minister now for four months, and I’ve had four months of hard riding on me. I feel I’m, I think, ready to roll — seasoned, as the Member says.
The issue of performance reviews. There are annual financial audits done. We have the ability though motions and requests to get the Auditor General in to look at Crown corporations. We’ve just structured a program review committee in government that’s going to start looking at the operations of government. As well, we have the opportunity, as has been mentioned in this House and spoken to by the Premier, the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, to take a look at the very fundamental operations of the Power Corporation and how we generate and distribute electricity and how we’re structured across the board for that particular service, including the regulatory regime. I think we have many opportunities.
Usually performance audits are specifically set up with a specific terms of reference. If the Member is talking about an annual process or a semi-annual process, we’d have to talk about that.
Mr. Speaker, I promised to be nice to the Minister because his little brother was in the gallery. I may not have used “seasoned.” I normally would have used “galvanized” or “crusty” Minister. But for the sake of being nice, of course, I won’t say those words today.
I’m asking for a reasonable time, value for money audit. The Auditor General does a value for money audit on the federal departments in between five and ten year blocks. That’s the kind of thing I’m suggesting. I wouldn’t suggest we do one every week, every year, every two years. Then they build up a program, and if the Crown corporation is working healthy, they push it back on the list. That’s what I’m asking for.
Would the Minister hear my call on this initiative for value for money audits and take a look at this and see if we could possibly implement something?
Mr. Speaker, I arise galvanized by my colleague’s questions to respond with alacrity and great definity.
Mr. Speaker, we have the opportunity, through the strategic plans…. For example, the Housing Corporation has just incorporated an accompanying action plan to look at having that built in. The government is moving, too, across the board for all the departments to have strategic plans. I’m sure they’re the same discussions we had in regard to the Power Corporation, and that is what is deemed beneficial or essential. So I think the opportunity’s there to look at those processes, especially if it’s tied into a regular strategic planning process and renewal process of that strategic plan.
Mr. Speaker, I didn’t hear an outright no, but it sure sounded like one slipped in there somehow.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister citing a strategic plan, but the problem is it’s not a strategic plan issue; it’s an accountability factor that could be built into legislation, and the legislation could be amended to reflect this issue specifically and on the appropriateness.
Would the Minister of Finance be willing to look at this issue and work with the Auditor General’s office? The Edmonton office has offered their resources to help with this type of program. Would he be willing to look at that and bring something back to this House to address this need of value for money audits?
